E.l.f. Beauty’s net sales soared 51% in the second quarter to US$520.8m, helped by the record-breaking launch of Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand Rhode into Sephora Europe.
The performance prompted the beauty brand owner to raise its outlook for the full 2027 financial year.
Sales for the year are now expected to be 22% to 24%, up from the previous forecast of 18% to 20%.
Rhode, the make-up and skin care brand founded by Hailey Bieber, launched in 19 countries across Europe, exclusively at Sephora in the quarter.
“In the last year we executed record-breaking launches [for Rhode] with Sephora in North America and the UK, achieving the number one beauty ranking in both geographies,” said Tarang Amin, Chairman and CEO of e.l.f. Beauty on a call with investors.
“Building on that success, this quarter we broke our own records with the expansion into Europe across 19 countries, exceeding what we achieved in North America and marking Sephora’s largest launch ever.”
Rhode is currently only in 40% of Sephora stores globally, with further headroom for expansion.
“We still have a lot further to go, and there is not a market in the world that does not want Rhode right now,” said Amin.
Momentum in Rhode’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales has also continued despite retail expansion, propelled by exclusive launches, he said.
As well as being Sephora’s number one brand in Europe, Rhode has “the strongest repeat rates that they see”, added Amin.
Expanding on Rhode’s product innovation pipeline, Amin said: “We love the product strategy on Rhode, Hailey’s vision of one of everything really good.
“We continue to follow a well-curated line. As I mentioned earlier, we love the balanced strength we have on Rhode with strength across skin, hybrid colour and lip.
“And then the strategy, these limited edition collaborations, really have to do with continuing to broaden the aperture and appeal of Rhode.
“The Alexandra Leclerc collaboration we did not only had a 200,000-person wait list when we launched that, but most of those items sold out within an hour.
“So it continues to drive interest in the brand, which is similar to a strategy that we have used with e.l.f. in terms of the types of collaborations we do to bring even greater interest to the brand, more new users to the brand.
“So we feel really great and we have a very good pipeline of innovation on Rhode, but still following that curated strategy in terms of really making sure we have one of everything really great.”
How did e.l.f. Beauty perform in Q2 beyond Rhode?
Sales growth came from all e.l.f. Beauty’s brands, which also include Naturium and e.l.f. Brands, which incorporate e.l.f. Cosmetics and e.l.f. Skin.
E.l.f. Beauty’s US net sales grew 25% in the second quarter, and international net sales grew 165%, and the company highlighted the opportunity for international growth for its brands in addition to Rhode.
“We are still in the early days of international expansion,” said Amin.“On a trailing twelve-month basis, international accounted for approximately 25% of our net sales, compared to approximately 70% for our legacy peers.
“We believe this gap represents one of our biggest opportunities, and the demand is already there.
“About 65% of e.l.f. Cosmetics and 75% of Rhode’s social following is outside the US; even after Rhode’s launch in Europe, the brand is still only in 40% of Sephora’s global doors.”
Meanwhile, Amin revealed that e.l.f. Beauty’s expansion into new categories has been positive, but stopped short of revealing exact sales figures.
E.l.f. Beauty’s entry into hair care with a six-product range all priced under $10 at Target has “seen great success initially in the first three months”, said Amin, entering the retailer’s top 20 brands in hair care and top seven in styling.
Around half of consumers buying e.l.f. Hair are new to the e.l.f. Brand, he added.
Meanwhile, e.l.f. Beauty’s entry into fragrance and body care with e.l.f. POP is “off to a great start”, said Amin.
“We are starting with Amazon and TikTok Shop, for instance, transporting consumers to different sensorial destinations around the world, and we are really pleased with what we are initially seeing there.
“And so I would say in summary, e.l.f. is a really elastic brand.
“There are a number of categories consumers want to see us in, and we have a good, disciplined approach in terms of how we expand.”
Further scents in the Pop range are set to be released later in the financial year.
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